EU Fines Lundbeck $125.6M In Pay-For-Delay Probe

Expert Analysis

• Alternative Investments: What Regulators Are After

  

  Alternative investments, while attractive for their potentially higher returns, may incorporate complex strategies that are hard to understand. Increasingly, regulators have raised issues where registered representatives cannot explain how a product works in a way a customer can appreciate, say attorneys with Sutherland Asbill & Brennan LLP.

• Where Private Equity Meets Physician-Owned Hospitals

  

  While the post-Affordable Care Act regulatory environment may be too constraining for some private equity funds to invest in physician-owned hospitals, many funds — especially those already investing in a health care platform such as United Surgical Partners International — still view the industry very optimistically, say attorneys with McGuireWoods LLP.

• Hope Is Restored In Finally Modernizing TSCA

  

  The recently introduced Chemical Safety Improvement Act bill offers a new and potentially politically viable framework for Toxic Substances Control Act reform. Though the stakes are high and outcome uncertain, the legislation is badly needed to restore public confidence in the federal chemical regulatory program, says Lynn Bergeson of Bergeson & Campbell PC.

• Free To Choose: Time Or Money

  

  The recent passage of the Working Families Flexibility Act in the U.S. House of Representatives has triggered a firestorm of discussion about providing employees alternative time off, instead of monetary compensation, for working overtime: Employees are skeptical about whether an employer would comply with the law, while employers wonder if the law would offer any benefit to them at all, says Jennifer Sandberg of Fisher & Phillips LLP.

• Washington Redskins Have Time On Their Side In TM Dispute

  

  The Lanham Act prohibits anyone from registering a trademark that disparages particular groups or cultures. So why have efforts to cancel the NFL Redskins franchise’s trademark registrations been ineffective? Modern sentiment is not taken into consideration, and proving disparagement in a bygone era is an uphill battle, say attorneys with Latham & Watkins LLP.

• 15 Tips For Navigating The 'Buy American' Maze

  

  Government contracts frequently include restrictions on the country of origin of the products that the government is purchasing, but not all of these “Buy American” requirements are created equal. Understanding how these overlapping statutes interact can stretch your sanity, says David Gallacher of Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP.

• Evaluating Pay-For-Delay Deals After FTC V. Actavis

  

  Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Federal Trade Commission v. Actavis, anticipation of potentially extensive litigation under a full-blown rule-of-reason approach may affect the characteristics of reverse payment settlements and whether the parties choose to settle at all, say Rahul Guha, Sally Woodhouse, Carlos Brain and Anna Taub of Cornerstone Research, and William Cavanaugh of Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler LLP.

• NY's Insurer Cybersecurity Initiative May Signal Trend

  

  In New York, recent increased regulatory interest in cybersecurity practices at insurance companies may telegraph how sector-specific regulators will approach cybersecurity moving forward, says Kimberly Peretti of Alston & Bird LLP.

• Bank-Holding Cos. Can Benefit From TAAs In Bankruptcy

  

  The increasing number of bankruptcy and district court decisions in favor of estates demonstrates the importance of understanding the bankruptcy implications of a tax allocation agreement entered into by any consolidated tax group, especially bank-holding companies. As shown by the Southern District of California ruling in In re Imperial Capital Bancorp Inc., the TAA terms could affect a significant estate asset: tax refunds, says Matthew Riopelle of Foley & Lardner LLP.

• Whyte V. Barclays Follows The 546 Safe Harbor Trend

  

  In Whyte v. Barclays Bank PLC, the Southern District of New York recently dismissed the complaint of the trustee for the SemGroup estate seeking to avoid a novation made to Barclays pre-bankruptcy under a swap agreement. This is one of a number of cases in recent years that treats the safe harbors — particularly the section 546 safe harbors — as broadly protective of nondebtor transferees in financial transactions, say Jonathan Guy and Douglas Mintz of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP.